New Report from The Green Grid Explains Impact of Government Policies on North American Data Centers

New Report from The Green Grid Explains Impact of Government Policies on North American Data Centers (PRNewsFoto/The Green Grid Association)

New Report from The Green Grid Explains Impact of Government Policies on North American Data Centers (PRNewsFoto/The Green Grid Association)

PORTLAND, Ore., May 30, 2014 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- The growth of data centers and their associated energy consumption has prompted governments at the local, state and country levels to implement policies designed to reduce energy consumption and improve energy efficiency. A summary of these policies is now available in a new report offered by The Green Grid Association, a non-profit global consortium dedicated to driving resource efficiency within information and communications technology (ICT) ecosystems.

"Energy Policies: Research and Implications for Data Centers in North America" identifies and summarizes North American energy policies that are affecting or have the potential to affect the energy profile of the data center industry. These policies may impact data centers either by driving energy efficiency improvements in infrastructure or by encouraging a shift away from carbon-based fossil fuels to renewable energy sources to power data centers.

"It is a daunting task to keep track of all the legislation, regulations, costs and incentives surrounding resource efficiency and to determine how it affects your business. As experts in resource efficiency, The Green Grid is offering this report as an asset for the ICT industry," said Christopher Kelley, principal architect at Cisco Systems and board member for The Green Grid Association. "The report highlights what The Green Grid believes will be most useful to data center developers and operators regarding policies that could impact facility investment and operations. It also provides policy makers with examples of policy instruments that may impact data center siting and operating decisions."

The North American energy policies report is now available to all members of The Green Grid and addresses three primary topics:

Mandatory obligations in the form of legal and regulatory requirements;

Voluntary initiatives that provide recognition for leadership or that use education to promote best practices and, in some cases, incentives that improve the ROI of reducing energy intensity of the data center;

Economic incentives that use economic instruments to encourage or discourage certain behaviors.

A preview of the report is available to non-members of The Green Grid through its web site, with the full report expected to become available publicly this summer.

About The Green Grid

The Green Grid Association is a global consortium of more than 200 member entities - companies, government agencies, educational institutions and individuals - dedicated to advancing resource efficiency in information and communications technology (ICT) with a holistic approach, including all IT, facility and infrastructure systems. The Green Grid's work applies to the ICT ecosystem – from data centers to personal computers – and provides the global ICT industry with metrics, tools and best practices to improve resource efficiency.

The Green Grid does not endorse vendor-specific products or solutions; instead, it seeks to provide industry-wide recommendations on best practices, metrics and technologies that will improve overall resource efficiencies. For membership and other information, visit www.thegreengrid.org.